Rotary and Slider switches with magnetically coupled armatures provide a reliable and durable switching function. The benefits of magnetically coupled switches have been demonstrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,523,730, 5,666,096, 5,867,082, 6,069,545, 6,023,213, 6,137,387 and 6,305,071, incorporated herein by reference. While rotary and slider switches with magnetically coupled armatures already have many applications, the number of small internal piece parts is high for switches that have numerous switching positions. A major expense in a magnetically coupled rotary or slider switch is the cost of assembling and aligning the small internal piece parts. Although most manufacturers are attracted by the long life that a magnetically coupled switch offers, manufacturers always want to lower cost as much as possible. The present invention is a magnetically coupled switch that is inexpensive to manufacture, requires very few internal parts, and is resistant to abuse.
Magnetically coupled rotary and slider switches normally have at least one multiple ball armature magnetically held by multiple coupler magnets that are attached to a knob. The multiple coupler magnets have their poles aligned in a specific orientation to properly attract multiple conductive balls into clusters or strings. Many embodiments have as many as ten or more tiny balls and magnets. A thin carrier layer having printed electrical conductors is intermediate the multiple coupler magnets and conductive balls. Multiple ball armatures are electrically conductive and may electrically connect the electrical conductors on the carrier layer, thereby indicating a switching position of a magnetically coupled rotary or slider switch. A user selects a desired switching position by manipulating the knob carrying the multiple coupler magnets. The magnetic attractive force between coupler magnets and a multiple ball armature causes that armature to follow the coupler magnets along a path on the carrier layer that includes the electrical conductors. Electrical conductors associated with a desired switching position are electrically connected once the multiple conductive balls are rolled into the desired switching position.